"so  any plan on how  to  find the oracle?"

Just outside the  Royal palace Apollo was readying his carriage  and  was about to leave for his own home but he was  stopped by Athena's voice who just exited the palace. He frowned as he heard her voice, he was hoping she wouldn't be insistent on looking for the Oracle with him.

"Yes I do, so I don't really need your help"

Apollo answered  without turning to look at his sister,  he  firmly believed that he had  the necessary knowledge and  the necessary strength to find  the  oracle himself without the need for any Help. When he looked for it in his youth it took him quite some time because he didn't know what he was looking for but he was still able to find it, not because he was looking for it but because someone else recognized his efforts.

Athena  rolled her eyes at him  before  heaving a sigh. Placing her hand on her hip she Began to speak.

"Being stubborn won't help  y'know, I know you  are capable of finding the oracle by yourself but that doesn't mean  you  shouldn't accept some help after all what If you get attacked by something unknown, you'll need someone like me to help"

She  explained, her family in general was a bunch of stubborn fools, a trait they all got from their father and  seemingly one of the few things they shared as a family.

"I can handle anything by myself so no"

"come on now brother, I can help with the search, I know the lands beyond Olympus better than anyone so with me the search will be easier"

Apollo took a pause as he considered her proposal, in all honesty finding the Oracle should not be difficult. Once you spend enough time looking for it then one should be able to get it, it's all about time and not about actually looking for it however Athena won't accept a no for an answer so he sighed.

 "I still don't need help but I get your point."

He relented causing Athena to smile, that was good she would rather not have to follow him around. if he refused her help she would have to follow him because Zeus ordered it be the two of them that look for it and she can't just ignore that even though she wanted to talk to Hephaestus about his sudden change. 

Athena and Hephaestus were to an extent friends, she valued his craftsmen ship and he Welcomed her suggestions and opinions on things regarding weapons so Athena at the moment felt like she needed to know the reason why he'd do something so drastic as change himself to such an extent.

"Good, we need to hurry—"

"Can I help as well?, my strength can definitely be of great use, better than her at least"

Ares said as he flexed his muscles and they bulged, they were thick and they glistened in the sunlight as he presented himself to the two.

"Father said you aren't needed"

Apollo expressed with a frown, the more people join in the less credit he gets so he can't have a whole crowd with him when he finds the oracle.

"who doesn't need strength?"

Athena was about to deny him and tell him his help wasn't needed however practically, it would be better to have Ares, he'd work as a good enough shield should they run into monsters or enemies.

"yeah the more the merrier"

"No we don't need  him he'll slow us down and Father told only us to look for it."

"if he slows us down we throw him out of the carriage, it's not like he'll die or anything"

One would probably consider it quite strange how Athena basically just said she would leave her brother to the hands of monsters to be ravaged without care, such blatant disregard for her brother's life was the norm and  Ares himself didn't think anything of her statement after all he felt the Same.

"No!"

"you're acting as if I need your permission to go look for the Oracle myself, you two can leave I'll just find it first"

Ares expressed with a look of frustration, while he may not know how to find the oracle that didn't mean he had to kiss up to Apollo,  he can just find the oracle himself after all  how hard could it be if Apollo was able to find it before then so can he.

.......

 

The  two were once  again back within  Aphrodite's palace, the Goddess of love quickly sprung into action and had her nymphs bring all the gifts that Hephaestus had brought her, including the dresses, she wanted to know if all of them were enchanted too. While the nymphs were doing as she ordered she began her inquiry.

"What effects did you enchant on to this bracelet?"

She asked with a little bit of enthusiasm.

"it was more of a prototype really, that bracelet was made with the intention of testing out things, It's effects are basically burning the hand of whoever touches you without your permission, if that person touches you and you don't like it. I was gonna come by and explain the enchantment to you but I guess you couldn't wait to wear it"

Hephaestus spoke as he took a seat and practically slouching on it, his mood was quite improved but he still felt somewhat pissed, how could Hera expect him to apologize to her.

While he will admit trapping her on the golden throne was a bit petty of him, He still released her from it and didn't ask anything of her aside from Zeus offering a reward  and she had the gall to tell him that it's fine that she threw him off mount Olympus. What if he wasn't a God then, he would have died.

"Oh I like that, are there any other gifts you enchanted?"

She  asked with  a  glint in her eyes, in all her time  receiving gifts from Gods  she has never really received anything that  would serve to protect her, or maybe they thought it would be an insult to  assume that she couldn't protect herself. While she could protect herself to an extent she isn't really that well versed in battle so she chooses to  interpret the gift as Hephaestus trying to protect her and she liked that.

"several actually,  including some of the clothes, which are also enchanted with protection and Shielding Runes"

He explained, most of the clothes  were enchanted with the idea of Keeping other Gods away, it was a precaution.

"We'll talk about that later, let's move back into our conversation about our courtship"

"Ah right,  what  will this  courtship entail exactly?"

"just the  basics of it,  we will spend  sometime together and find out more about each as we do so, your interest, my interest,  things  we have in common, assist and  strengthen each other when needed, the  point is  to at least try to make our marriage a successful one, unlike the one  with Hera and  Zeus both of us will uphold the law of marriage"

Hephaestus explained  and  Aphrodite could not  help  but  feel a slight discomfort but it quickly pushed it aside. The  conditions seemed fair enough and there  seemed to be no discrepancies or  tricks in his  words  and Hephaestus has already proven to her that he  wasn't simply driven by lust which was  a change of pace for  once,  she liked it.

"I guess  I can  agree to  that,  you have  proven yourself to  be  a reasonable and somewhat agreeable person. I am willing to court you now that  you look better"

She quickly held her mouth at such a  slip of  the Tongue,  the  words simply slipped out of  her.

"I'm sorry"

"No, it's fine. I didn't quite like myself like  that either  and besides I too would not wish to marry someone ugly"

He expressed, Hephaestus wasn't going to fault her like he faulted Hera. Hera was  his mother she was supposed to love him no matter what and unconditionally, however he wasn't stupid to  think that  personality mattered more than looks infact  he  was of the mind that personality came secondary, after all the first thing you see are the looks not the personality and if the personality happens to be great then that's a bonus, however this sparked a curious thought in his head.

'why would gods prefer looks over personality? after all unlike humans they don't adhere to the rules of natural selection or perhaps natural selection is a fundamental law of the universe? Or maybe Gaia has a hand in it? Or  maybe its because the myths were written by humans?'

Hearing his words Aphrodite couldn't help but think back to Ares and Athena's conversation earlier and felt somewhat bad.

"I thank you for your forgiveness Hephaestus but I still apologize and I understand It was shallow of me to runaway like that when our marriage was announced"

"again it's fine, it was a rational act, like I said anyone would do the same even me. How can you marry someone you don't find appealing to you?"

She wondered if she would have given him the time of day if he didn't look as he does now, perhaps she was lying to herself earlier when she agreed more with Athena than Ares and Hephaestus was making quite the good point.

"I suppose you're right but still I wish to make it up to you for my thoughtlessness, perhaps  I could do something for you?"

Once again she gave him a seductive look for the second time today, it was quite the habit of hers and most gods would pick up on the hint of what she was giving.

"Well, if you insist I'll…"

...

[1 day later]

"uhm Hephaestus…"

Aphrodite voiced,  her tone held a bit of nervousness within it, she  was currently unsure if  she should continue with what they were currently doing,  she  fidgeted in place  and  tried to be still  just as Hephaestus told her.

"Yes, what is it?"

He asked, with an amused smile on his face, he found it amusing how she seemed to be nervous

"when I said that  I wanted to make it up to you, this is not what I had in mind"

She said as  she  looked at Hephaestus pull the  bowstring from a  distance  aiming an  arrow directly at her.  The  two  of them were now within  Hephaestus's  castle which was located outside of Olympus  and Aphrodite was wearing a new set of  clothes that Hephaestus described as casual clothes. They were a pearl white jersey knitted from wool that stopped right below her shoulders and revealed her entire neckline and collar bone as well as minimal cleavage, She also wore black skinny jeans and heels.

"it's what I had in mind Heh!"

"It's not funny"

She fumed and stomped her heel on the grass, she  didn't understand why  she had to  stand here and let him shoot arrows at her or rather she should have let her intentions be clear and not leave it up for interpretation.

Hephaestus ignored her protest as He let loose the arrow and let it fly across the distance aiming for her navel but before it could hit the arrow was suddenly repelled and was stopped by a translucent golden barrier and that caused her to heave a Sigh of relief.

"See, not even  a scratch"

He voiced as he arrived before her. Since she offered to make it up to him He thought why not test out the enchantments he made on the clothes he gifted her, he knew what she meant but it wasn't the time for that yet plus he  wished to be playful with her for a bit.

"why don't I be the one to shoot you with arrows then"

"as if you'd hit anything"

"I've held a bow before I'll have you know"

"Holding  and  shooting are different things"

"You know what I mean, so do you agree?"

"No thanks, you're the one who wanted to make it up to me"

"is this how you treat all the Goddesses that you bring to your abode?"

She crossed her arms and frowned at him as she asked, though he has never brought any Goddess to his home so she was the first.

"Only the  one I want to protect"

He expressed and  took one of her hands and gave it a peck on both  the back  and  front of  the palm  once again letting her know that he greatly desires her.

Aphrodite wasn't as bewildered as last time but instead just confused he  clearly expressed his  desire but  will go no further than  that. He  invited her to his Home yet has made no attempts at all and simply remained as  he was yesterday. In all honestly it was making her a bit nervous, did he not find her attractive?

"Why do  you  do this?"

She asked,  what  exactly does he  want from her, he  has done  none of the  things she came to expect from the Gods aside from the  gifts he has remained outside the norm  and she didn't understand why was that, He didn't bombard her with his lust like Ares did yesterday  so what exactly is he after, did she have something he wanted?

"I thought you knew that already"

"No not the kiss on my palm but everything, why have you not asked me  what  every male God has asked of me? Do you not find me  attractive?"

Despite how her words may have sounded to Hephaestus she did not pull her hand away from his hold, she liked the way he did things but she was curious about why He seemed to be an exception. Ares yesterday did exactly as she expected from any of the gods, Poseidon wasn't an exception either so Hephaestus should also not be an exception, Was there something she was missing?

"Aphrodite if I didn't  find  you  attractive why would I want you as my wife?"

"exactly, if you find me attractive then you should be lusting for my body as we speak yet so far you have only kissed my palm, that action tells me your want me but you show no lust or at the very least you show only snippets of it."

"Why must I lust for you as a sign that I find you attractive? Can I not simply admire your beauty without lust?"

He asked, she seemed to have a type of misconception. Finding someone attractive has nothing to do with lust, in most cases  lust comes about because you find someone attractive but that does in no way mean you cannot simply find someone attractive without lust.

Aphrodite went  silent at his question as she found it difficult to answer so instead she  decided it was best that she changed the  subject and move back to their previous conversation.

"Since you won't allow me to shoot a bow at you then I expect something for  this"

She voiced, she was now quite interested in what type of novel tools and things that Hephaestus could make, receiving gifts was not something she hated but overtime it had become incredibly dull and monotonous but with Hephaestus things should be somewhat different.

"weren't you making it up to me though"

"since that wasn't what I meant it doesn't count so you have to give an apology gift."

She demanded and Hephaestus could not help but let out a sigh in surrender, the Goddess will probably demand a gift each time she was displeased but that was fine its not like making gifts was that hard abs he didn't really mind.

"Fine but I have stuff to forge first so your gift will have to wait a bit,  what kind of gift  do you want?"

"Any items that's as marvelous as that harp you made will do"

"Alright will do"

"okay then I'll be waiting for it"

...…

A/N: on the 25 I'll be doing a research assignment, thought I'd start early, so be happy about this coz I might not update until 31st